Advanced everyday english: Advanced vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions - Collins Steven 2011
Lesson Three. To go round
Chapter One
i. (To go to someone’s home-see “to go over”, Practical Everyday English, page I2, meaning i)
Example:
✵ I’m going round to John’s to give him some stick about his team losing the Cup Final. That will really rub him up the wrong way.
ii. (To socialise/go out with a person or people on a regular basis—generally used by children and young adults) Colloquial
Examples:
✵ I don’t really go around/round with my college friends these days; we’ve drifted apart in recent years.
✵ One child to another:
I know we get on well with each other, but my mum has told me that I’m not allowed to go around with you any more.
iii. (To spread, to get round-see Practical Everyday English, page I67, meaning ii -, to go about- see earlier, page 5, meaning ii)
Examples:
✵ The stories that went round about these two guys were a real eye-opener.
✵ There’s a stomach bug going round the school at the moment, so many of our kids are feeling a bit under the weather.
iv. (To be in the habit of doing something or to behave in a certain way which is generally disapproved of)
Examples:
✵ If you go round deliberately winding everyone up, people are bound to get hold of the wrong end of the stick.
✵ I don’t go round treating my employees like dogsbodies, and I don’t expect you to try it on either.
v. To have a sufficient quantity of something for everyone to enjoy/use—often used with “enough” or “plenty”)
Examples:
✵ In the past we took it for granted that there was always enough money to go round, but these days it’s a wonder that we can afford to do anything at all.
✵ I thought we had run out of brochures, but, as it turned out, there are plenty to go round.
One child to another: “I know we get on well with each other, but my mum has told me that are not allowed to go around/round with you any more.”
(see page 9)
To have it in one (To possess a certain characteristic which one was not previously aware of-often used with “I didn't know”. Note also the colloquial expression “to have it in for someone”, which means to be determined that someone will suffer, have a hard time or fail in some way, often for no apparent reason. It is not generally used in the first person; i.e. one would not say “I’ve got it in for him”, although one might hear, “He thinks I’ve got it in for him”)
Examples:
✵ She’s not normally so outgoing; I never believed she had it in her to perform in front of such a big audience.
✵ John can vouch for my usual calm, easy-going nature.
I didn’t know I had it in me to fly off the handle like that.
✵ I might as well give in my notice; the boss has had it in for me ever since I told him he was highly strung.
✵ Every application I’ve made has been turned down.
Someone has clearly got it in for me!
Cocky (Too confident or sure that one knows everything) Colloquial
Examples:
✵ One day I’m going to show her up in front of her friends.
I won’t stand for her cocky attitude any longer.
✵ It served him right when she cut him down to size. He’s far too cocky for his own good.
✵ He comes over as too cocky. I don’t think he’ll fit in with the other members of staff.
To bog down/to get bogged down (To prevent progress, to confuse people by giving them too much work or information, to get stuck/to be slowed down, often because of too much work)
Examples:
✵ We’ve got to get our marketing spot-on and not bog potential customers down with too much information.
✵ I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday but I got bogged down with a backlog of paperwork I had to catch up on.
Understatement (A statement which does not go far enough or is not as strong as it should be — the opposite of exaggeration)
Examples:
✵ To say that my French is not up to scratch is an understatement.
✵ A: Our team didn’t put up much of a fight today.
B: That must be the understatement of the year.
They were absolutely dreadful!
Up and coming (Someone/something who/which is new and likely to be successful/ popular in the near future)
Examples:
✵ / feel most of the old directors are no longer on the ball; mind you, we’ve got one or two up and coming youngsters on the board who could pull us through this bad patch.
✵ A: What’s up and coming in the fashion world at the moment?
B: / haven’t got a clue; I drifted away from that scene ages ago.
To get going
i. (To get a move on—see Practical Everyday English, page 183, to hurry up and leave/start, to get something started—note that “to get a move on” is preferred to “to get going” for use in the imperative-see 3rd example below.) Colloquial
Examples:
✵ I’m not trying to drop you a hint, but you’d better get going if you want to dodge the rush hour traffic.
✵ Let’s get this meeting going before we wind up having to stay the night here.
✵ Get a move on! We’ll never clear this backlog at this rate.
ii. (To become or make something more lively, e.g. a party) Colloquial Examples:
✵ A: I might have known you’d turn up late!
B: Oh sorry, but we thought the party wouldn’t really get going until midnight.
✵ We could have done with a live band to get the wedding reception going but we had to make do with background classical music instead.
iii. (To wind up—see Practical Everyday English, page 147, meaning iv, to tease) Colloquial
Example:
✵ It’s so easy to get your brother going; I never knew he was so touchy.
To pencil someone/something in (To make a provisional [something which could be changed later] appointment with someone)
Examples:
✵ I tell you what; I’ll pencil you in for Tuesday the 18th, and in the meantime I’d appreciate it if you could keep me posted as to what’s likely to come up before then.
✵ Things are a little up in the air at the moment. If you pencil the meeting in for Wednesday, I’ll get back to you before packing up tonight on whether I can make it or not.
At stake (At risk — often money or one’s reputation)
Examples:
✵ Lawyer to Client:
I’m sorry to be blunt, but it’s not worth putting my career at stake over such a borderline case.
✵ Has it dawned on you exactly how much money is at stake here?
Scapegoat (A person who is unfairly blamed for everything that has gone wrong in order to satisfy public anger— often used with the verb “to make”)
Examples:
✵ It’s unfair to make the Chancellor the scapegoat for the downturn in the economy; the entire Government has got a lot to answer for.
✵ The police came off very badly in this case, having dithered for what seems an eternity, and now they are looking for a scapegoat.